January 2010 Archives

The lead that was used in the story by Espn about Brett Favre's future portrayed most of the elements of a hard-news lead.

It included the what, where, when and who, which are essential to hard-news stories.
Plus, it gave the reader a basic understanding of what the story was going to be about.

In the lead Favre said that his return to football next year would be "highly unlikely", which is considered a descriptive fact of the situation. For that part to be considered as a generalized fact Favre would have had to of said that he "didn't know" about his future.

The lead also mentioned the place and event of where the information was obtained. If the person who wrote the story wanted to be general they could have just mentioned the day they received the information, for example.

People involved on-campus have started to take more safety precautions following Monday's shooting.

According to the Star Tribune, about 100 students attended a public safety forum at Centennial Hall on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 54 people requested the campus security escort service on Tuesday, followed by 45 people requesting the service on Wednesday. The average number of requests the week before the shooting was about 10-15 per night, according to the Minnesota Daily.

An assistant manager for the University Security Monitor Program said that they were able to handle the increased volume of requests for security escorts, according to the Minnesota Daily.

An injury-stricken Ghana squad punched their ticket to the African Nations Cup final after defeating Nigeria 1-0 in the semifinal Thursday in Angola.

The Black Stars entered Thursday's soccer match with a depleted roster, but that wasn't enough to stop them from a victory, according to the BBC.

The experienced Michael Essien, John Mensah and Stephen Appiah were not in uniform, due to injuries, which meant that the younger players were given an opportunity to step-up, according to The New York Times.

An early first-half goal and solid defense by the Black Stars proved to be enough to for a victory against Nigeria, according to The New York Times.

The Black Stars are seeking their first cup victory since 1982 and their appearance in the final will be the first since 1992, according to the BBC.

Ghana will be awaiting the winner of the other semifinal, which includes Egypt and Algeria, according to The New York Times.

A string of robberies late Monday night ended-up with one student in the hospital.

19-year-old Timothy Schumacher, a first-year student at the university, was rushed to the hospital late Monday night after he received a gunshot wound to the abdomen outside of Centennial Hall. He is reported to be in stable condition, according to the Minnesota Daily.

According to the Star Tribune, there was no motive behind the shooting of Schumacher. The shooting is believed to be the culmination of a series of robberies.

The first robbery occurred at about 10:50 p.m. on the 500 block of Huron Blvd. S.E., while the second robbery occurred after 11:00 p.m. by Moos Tower.Though valuables were taken, the students involved in both robberies were not injured, according to the Minnesota Daily.

Minneapolis police Sgt. Jesse Garcia said the incidents that occurred Monday night surprised the campus. Garcia also said that the police are unsure if the suspects were targeting college students, according to the Star Tribune.

A factory defect is causing Toyota to halt the production of a majority of their models until the problem is resolved.

A Problem occurring with the accelerator pedal sticking, which causes the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally, is making Toyota halt the production of eight models starting Feb. 1, The New York Times Reports.

Toyota group Vice President Robert Carter told The New York Times that the actions taken by the car company were very necessary until the issue is resolved.

The problem with the sticking accelerator has led to reports of fatal car accidents, including one in Texas that killed four people, according to USA Today.

The recent announcement comes at a very bad time for Toyota, due to the recent recession. The automaker is going to see two of its best-selling models be put on hold, Camry and Corolla, because of the issue, according to USA Today.

According to The New York Times, Paul Lunsford, who is the general manager of a Toyota dealership in California, said that even though the recall is going to hit their sales negitively Toyota did the right thing in implementing a recall.

The future of Vikings quarterback Brett Favre is uncertain after the Vikings loss to the Saints in the NFC Championship game on Sunday.

Favre told Espn's Ed Werder that a return next year is "highly unlikely" after the game. But not so fast. The future hall of fame quarterback also said that he is going to give it a few weeks to think his decision through before he comes up with a final answer.

Teammates of Favre, like wide receiver Percy Harven, think that he should return for one more year, according to the Star Tribune.

Vikings coach Brad Childress is not going to rush Favre into a decision anytime soon. He said that the wounds need to heal both physically and mentally before both sides can come to a final agreement, according to Espn.

Meanwhile, what Favre did confirm was that if this was his last game that he went out on top even if he didn't make it back to the Super Bowl, according to Espn.